Workshops & Events

Amy Thompson

Saturday, February 7
1–5pm

Well before the advent of text messaging, the Victorians announced their presence with tasteful calling cards and passed discrete slips of paper to arrange amorous liaisons. Participants in this lively half-day workshop combine antique dingbats, elegant zinc cuts, and movable type from the program’s collection to craft minuscule missives and petite prints. Students choose from a selection of phrases preset in metal type, set brief original messages of their own, or set their names in the manner of the traditional calling card, then letterpress print their designs on the studio’s clamshell presses. Beginners are entreated to attend this delightful printing excursion, as are more accomplished printers.

Sue Cotter

Saturday, March 14
10am–5pm

Discarded books are an inexpensive (often free) treasure trove of assemblage materials and inspiration. In this workshop, participants are guided through the creation of a small assemblage project. A title section sliced from the spine of a discarded book provides the theme of the work and stimulates ideas. Participants excavate the entire book and its usable parts, working on a prepared support panel and building up layers of found objects and other materials as the theme evolves. Participants leave the workshop with an assemblage piece and learn techniques and methods to create similar work on their own. 

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Sue Cotter is a letterpress printer, artist-book maker, assemblage, and collage artist. After earning her art degree at the University of Nevada, Reno (1983) she went on to study the historic techniques of letterpress printing and bookmaking with Bob Blesse at the University of Nevada, Reno, Black Rock Press (1988–90).  She moved to southern Utah in 1990 where she acquired equipment and established her own letterpress printing and papermaking studio. In recent years, extensive travels have led Cotter to create works that do not require presses and other cumbersome equipment—altered books, books created from unusual found objects, and book-themed assemblage. Cotter has received numerous grants and awards including a Utah Artist Fellowship and a New Forms Grant from the Andy Warhol Foundation. Her work is in Special Collections libraries nationally as well as museums and private collections. She now lives in Parowan, Utah where she and fellow artist Spike Ress have built their home and studios

Book Arts Staff

Tuesdays, May 12–June 30
4:30–7:30pm

Registration is not yet open. Please check back.

Get a handle on what it takes to crank out an edition of gorgeous letterpress prints. This active, eight-week class introduces the fundamentals of letterpress, from paper selection to mixing ink and printing. Guided by the instructors, participants design and produce individual projects using a variety of relief techniques including metal and wood type, zinc cuts, linoleum blocks, pressure prints, photopolymer plates, and collagraphs. Students should expect to spend time out of class in the studio each week to complete projects.

Lili Hall Sharp

Friday & Saturday, May 15–16
10am–5pm

Interested in learning the basics of working with leather as a covering material for handbound books? Join us to learn Lili Sharp's interpretation of the Bradel Case binding, which veers from the traditional structure. The cover is built entirely off the book as a three-part case and the text block is then cased into it, which allows for the parts of the case to be covered in different materials and permits the binder to design the covers off the book. Participants leave the workshop with basic leather working skills and a three-piece Bradel binding.

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Lili Hall Sharp is a design binder, artist, and rare book conservator based in Springville, Utah. She balances a full-time career in book and paper conservation, maintaining a studio art practice, and raising four young boys alongside her artist husband. She studied design binding with Tini Miura, Monique Lallier, Don Glaister, and other respected mentors, and holds a BFA in printmaking and a master’s degree in book conservation and restoration. Lili creates and exhibits fine bindings and artist books, serving as artist, binder, and juror for various exhibitions and editions. She has taught bookbinding, book arts, and decorative paper techniques at universities and workshops, and her work is held in collections both nationally and internationally.

CANCELED

Brien Beidler

Thursday–Saturday, June 18–20
10am–5pm

Participants in this fun, fast-paced workshop will explore 17th and early 18th century binding methods and materials as they create a full-leather binding fit for use and expression in a modern context. Students will employ techniques such as sewing on raised cords and edge trimming in boards, using historic materials such as handmade book board and hide glue. Participants leave with a blind tooled full-leather binding. This class is ideal for anyone searching for an accessible path to learn traditional hand bookbinding with leather, as well as for experienced binders and conservators looking to deepen their knowledge and expand their technical repertoire.

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Brien Beidler is a bookbinder and toolmaker who explores the structure, aesthetics, and impact of pre-industrial bindings. In Brien’s practice, bookbinding and toolmaking are means to investigate the role books have played in the history of ideas and culture. In his binding, Brien is deeply inspired by the processes of traditional bookbinders and uses tools and techniques that replicate the structural and visual properties of historic bindings. In his toolmaking, Brien specializes in hand-engraved finishing tools and other decorative stamps for his own work and other bookbinders, leatherworkers, and woodworkers. He teaches workshops in bookbinding, gold tooling with egg glair, and finishing tool making, and is on the board of Co-Directors for the Paper and Book Intensive. Brien holds an undergraduate degree in Chemistry from the College of Charleston, where he was first introduced to bookbinding in the library’s Special Collections. He was the Director of the Bindery and Conservation Lab at the Charleston Library Society from 2012-2016 before establishing his own practice. His studio is currently based in Minneapolis, MN. www.beidlermade.com

Nicole Donnelly

Friday–Saturday, July 17–18
10am–5pm

In this two-day workshop, participants learn about three-dimensional paper casting. Beginning with a found or constructed object, participants make simple molds, or an impression in silicone, which resists exposure to water and can be used multiple times to create dimensional paper artwork. After production of the mold, participants use paper pulp and sheets of handmade paper to create casts, or replicas of the original object. The paper cast captures and reproduces fine surface details of the original object, resulting in lightweight and precisely editioned paper sculptures.

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Nicole Donnelly is a hand papermaker and visual artist serving as Executive Director at the Morgan Conservatory of Papermaking in Cleveland, OH. She founded community accessible studio paperTHINKtank in 2013 and ushered its growth for over ten years in the Philadelphia arts community. She has taught papermaking for over fifteen years, both as a traditional craft and artistic medium, to students of all ages. She served as Collaborative Papermaker to Brandywine Workshop & Archives, the Brodsky Center at PAFA, and now at the Morgan Conservatory. Her creative and academic research has been published by The Legacy Press and Hand Papermaking magazine, and she served as president of IAPMA (International Association of Hand Papermakers and Paper Artists) for seven years. Donnelly’s mission is to establish handmade paper as a recognized art medium and preserve its value as a craft.

Jazmin Gallegos & Rachel Urban

July 29–30, Wednesday & Thursday
10am–5pm

This workshop is free and reserved for K–12 Utah educators.

SOLD OUT

Please contact the Book Arts Program to be added to the waitlist. 

Join fellow educators for an immersive exploration of book arts and printmaking and discover how these versatile mediums can be integrated into your classroom to foster a creative, collaborative community of inquisitive learners. In this two-day, hands-on workshop, educators create a variety of book forms using easy-to-find materials and incorporating printmaking techniques that can easily be replicated in the classroom. Additionally, educators are introduced to the Provisional printing press, available for check-out and classroom use after training. Explore the historical and contemporary significance of printmaking and the physical book and consider how visual storytelling and bookmaking can help students reflect on the world around them, share their ideas, and connect meaningfully with one another. This workshop is grant-funded and free for all Utah educators. USBE re-licensure hours are available. Space is limited and on a first come, first serve basis.